DOLLTALE
by Pansychic27213
Summary: Upon falling into the CORE, Gaster's mind is opened to the truth. After his son is born, he must make some tough decisions about how to survive in such an awful world. [WARNING: This story contains instances of and references to child abuse, psychological horror, violence, extreme mental illness, dark imagery, and more.]
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hey, peeps! I felt really bad about not posting for almost a year, so I've decided to finally start uploading this. It may be the darkest thing I've ever written, so be warned that it does get very intense at times! And yes, I know there is already an AU called DollTale. While this is not the same AU, the title of this fic is an allusion so readers can make a connection between what is happening symbolically with the characters.**

 **WARNING: This fic is EXTREMELY DARK. There are several instances and references to child abuse, psychological torture, and much more. In this AU, Gaster has gone completely crazy from his accident in the CORE; take anything from his perspective with a grain of salt!**

 **DOLLTALE**

-{[-(*)-]}-

While Gaster pretended to enjoy each of their interactions, he really wasn't fond of his wife. She was pretty, yes. But she was also demanding, rude, whiney, clingy, and a hundred other things that made him want to dust her each night. He didn't know how she ever convinced him to get her pregnant, and he was regretting every moment of it since conception.

She had cravings and urges and needs, and she just never _shut up_ about it! She complained her way through the whole nine months, practically refusing to let him go into the lab. He found himself making constant runs to and from the store, and Waterfall, and Hotland, and a thousand other places that made him want to dust _himself_.

He _hated_ her.

Gaster hated her more than his clueless lab assistants, and the judgmental shop owners, and the king. He wanted her _out_ of his life, and he _still_ had no idea how they had gotten married.

But then...

But then she went into labor.

At first, he could honestly care less if she was screaming in pain. The doctors would take time to get there, and there wasn't much he could do for her other than force her to walk and reminder her to keep breathing.

The doctors did arrive, though, and they started to set up everything they would need. A nurse flitted over and took over for Gaster, handling his upset wife. Hours passed like this, until the doctors asked if he wanted to leave. His wife demanded he stay, but the only reason he remained was to see the child.

From that point, there were several more hours of labor and birthing, and Gaster was so _done_ with his wife's voice, he considered conjuring some earplugs for himself. She kept screeching at him and clawing at his arms. Her face had flushed a nasty red and her hair was a mess. She had lost anything beautiful about her.

Then, the doctors started chattering excitedly. 'They could see the baby', the hushed whisper spread through the nurses. They went to prepare even more things, then asked about a nursery.

"We don't have one," Gaster muttered, even more angered by the fact. There were two bedrooms in this house. One was used as the master bedroom, and one was used as his office. He tried to move the things from the office into his bedroom, but his wife refused. ' _It would make their bedroom too small_.'

In the next hour, their was a whirlwind of activity. The nurses had to prepare some kind of place for the baby, because it was coming very quickly now. Gaster was glad to escape his wife and help the nurses for a while, crafting a tiny bed and turning a pan into a tiny baby bath.

Suddenly, a new cry filled the house. It was small, and fragile, and helpless. It wasn't very loud, just frightened.

Gaster rushed into the room, realizing his wife had finally shut up because she was unconscious. But he spared her no other thoughts, instead rushing to his new child's side.

The father gasped.

The little baby bones was so... _tiny_. When it saw him, its little face smoothened out, and it reached a tiny hand for him. Gaster forced himself to be extremely gentle as he let the baby grab one of his fingers.

The scientist looked up to the doctors with a look that was equal parts wonder and questioning. They glanced at each other with small smiles, apparently pleased that he liked his child.

"It's a boy," someone answered his unspoken inquiry. "He's quite healthy, despite being a bit small for your species. But he'll grow up big and strong, just like his daddy."

"Your wife should recover well," another doctor informed, even though he could care less. "She just needs rest and a good meal."

Gaster nodded, trying not to roll his eyes, then looked down to his sweet child. Much like every skeleton in the Font family, this little one needed to be named something unique. His name could very well shape his entire future...

The baby looked up at him and gurgled something, like it was trying to speak. Gaster smiled, and the tiny baby giggled softly.

"You're a little comedian, aren't you? Think you're so funny?" Gaster mumbled. The baby swiped at him weakly, then giggled even harder. This drew a small chuckle from Gaster.

The man snapped his phalanges as he was hit with an idea.

"Comic Sans. But we'll just call you Sans, for short."

The doctors shared another look.

"Sir, we don't mean to tell you how to parent your child, but maybe you should wait until your wife is awake to-"

"She won't care!" Gaster snarled slightly. He let out an aggravated sigh and carefully reeled his bitter emotions back in. "Thank you for your work, doctors. You've done an excellent job. But I can take it from here, really. Just one moment, please."

He hurried into the office and returned with a checkbook. He quickly filled out a check and handed it to the main doctor.

"It's not much, but we want to thank you for helping us with this," Gaster offered. The doctors murmured among each other, stunned. But eventually they all thanked him, gathered their supplies, and began to leave.

One of the nurses handed Gaster some pamphlets on the way out. As he looked over them, he learned they were about basic care of babies and about parenting. He saved them gratefully, knowing he could use all the help he wouldn't be getting from his wife.

When all the medical personnel had left, he bundled Sans up in his arms and relocated him to the make-shift nursery. The baby began to fuss slightly, but Gaster easily calmed him by letting him hold the man's finger again.

"I know, I know," Gaster sighed. "It's not much. But we'll get you a nursery soon. We'll get this all sorted out."

-{[(*)]}-

Ever since the incident with the Core, Gaster had found it almost impossible to love his wife anymore. Anything he might have loved about her were things he quickly came to hate. And it seemed like his feelings were returned! She refused to let him do anything he liked, forcing him to work around the house on his days off. She spent all of her off-time hanging out with the ladies in Waterfall. She demanded things of him constantly, always having him running all over the Underground.

But after Sans was born, it seemed almost like their relationship could be back on track. Gaster willingly stayed home to take care of the baby, and he willingly did things around the house, if only to make sure Sans stayed safe. She started to come home as well, and her irritating attitude started to fade.

But Gaster did have one major issue with her.

She kept just... leaving Sans places unattended. She would set him on the couch, then vacuum the living room. She would put him in the bedroom, then pay the bills in the office. Once, she even left him on a park bench while she talked to some of her friends she had seen.

 _Thank the stars_ nothing had happened yet, but the irresponsible parenting was completely unacceptable! Gaster brought it up to her every time he saw her doing it, and she insisted Sans would be fine.

"He's a healthy baby with 10 HP!" She yelled at him one evening. "He can be left alone for a few minutes!"

"He's a _baby_!" Gaster shouted back. "And 10 HP is nothing! A small child could deal a blow worse than 10 HP!"

They were both heaving and panting and frustrated until his wife lunged forward and dragged him into a heated kiss. He struggled against her, still angry and wanting to argue, but she managed to get him behind the bedroom door and that was that.

Still the issue didn't go away, and Gaster grew more and more anxious each time it happened. Eventually his wife must have made some sort of decision, because their relationship drastically turned for the worst. In fact, it was near non-existent.

She was never home, always out with her friends or sneaking into some kind of party. She never added money from her job to their banking account, making him the sole provider for their family. She refused to take care of Sans, leaving Gaster to act as the only parent. And the few times she did take care of the baby, she left him in strange, dangerous places.

Sans was barely a year old when everything came to a head.

It wasn't until hours of frantic searching later that Gaster found his son. His wife had seemed to disappear into thin air, leaving only a note. And Sans had been missing as well. Gaster knew very well that she would not have taken Sans with her, so she had to have abandoned the poor baby somewhere.

He searched through Snowdin for hours, checking every snow poff he came across and even climbing trees to see if he could find his poor child. Sans was just a year old! The little thing couldn't possibly survive like this!

But hours later, Gaster was trudging through the woods, feeling like his baby was gone forever, when his foot hit an odd lump. It was buried deep in the snow, and at first, he thought it was a rock. He raised his foot to kick it again.

But then there was a small huff of breath, certainly not from him.

Thinking he could have almost kicked his son, Gaster quickly dug down in the snow. Instead, he found Sans's blanket, frozen solid with ice. Gaster gasped softly and dropped down beside it.

"Sans..." He murmured, eye filling with tears. He pulled the blanket close to his chest. "Sans..." His eyes started to light; his wife would pay for this. He was going to-

Another small sound slid through the air, a hiccup this time.

Gaster turned and found his baby tucked under the low branches of a fallen tree. The child was shivering and unconscious. No matter how many times he called for his sweet baby, Sans did not awaken.

Gaster quickly checked him.

His soul dropped.

Sans's HP had fallen down to a single digit.

1.

Monsters were beings created mostly with magic and very little physical matter. Their very existence relied on the positive emotions emitted by their souls and those around them. If a monster began to experience serious despair or upset, it could destroy them.

If Gaster hadn't found Sans...

Gaster clutched his baby close, pouring out all the love his soul had. The child squeaked in sleep and shifted. But Sans did not awaken, and his soul didn't seem to heal. It had leveled out at that single HP.

-[]-

Officially done with anything the Underground might have previously offered him, Gaster packed their bags the moment he got home. He bundled Sans up tightly, and Gaster escaped into the night with his child.

On the edges of New Home were a series of smaller caverns. It was easy to find a house for sale there, and Gaster quickly set up anything they could need. Sans had the ideal nursery, Gaster had his own room connected to the office, and the other rooms were wonderful for their little family of two.

Gaster went through and baby-proofed everything as his wife had refused to do, and he decorated every room with the fragile baby in mind. The carpets were plush and soft, almost all furniture was low to the ground, any sharp corners in the house had been rounded out, and anything that could fall or be knocked over was secured in place.

Once the house was ready, he took all pictures of his wife out back and burned them.

Then he set about caring for Sans. He washed the skelebaby carefully with warm water, dressed him in warm clothes and bundled him in blankets. He fed Sans some warm soup, which he had carefully filled with his own magic.

By putting his own magic in the soup, it would be like directly injecting Sans with love and warmth.

The baby began to awaken then, but he wasn't able to stay awake for long. He soon went back to sleep, and Gaster finally let himself relax. His baby would be okay...

His baby was _going to be okay_.

-{[(*)]}-

 **A/N: This may not seem too bad now, but just wait until next week's update! ;)**

 **QUESTION OF THE UPDATE: I want to have a discussion about Yuuri on Ice! While I enjoy the show, I'm not sure how much it deserved some of the awards it received. What do you think?**


	2. Sans

**A/N: I know I already said you should take everything from Gaster's perspective with a grain of salt, and for those of you that didn't, here's what's been really going on. :)**

-{[(*)]}-

Silk rustled, fluttering slightly against his bones. The fabric hugged his limbs, just loose enough for him to move, but still a bit odd when he looked in the mirror. He definitely would have liked something looser. He kicked his legs lightly, staring at the book in front of him. He looked at the curtained window and wondered what it must be like on the other side.

Was it green and beautiful like in his books? Was everything pretty and wonderful and... and _exciting_?

Or was it like what Daddy said? Was it dark and cold and awful and mis... miseraber-able?

Sans pondered this, swinging his feet a bit more. He didn't even think to worry about hitting the floor or kicking the table; his feet would have hung almost a foot above the ground in a regular chair, and this chair was even taller than most. And the table was large as well, so he could safely draw and study.

He sighed.

The monitoring charm clanked against his collarbone. He glanced down at the little necklace as best he could, but he couldn't really see it. Instead, he cradled the star-shaped charm in his tiny hand so he could feel the rounded edges. He knew it was silver, but Daddy said it was sapposed to glow.

Sans had been wearing this little charm ever since he could remember. Daddy said it kept him safe, cuz' Daddy had put part of his soul in there so he could always watch over him and help him! Sans thought it was very cool.

He just wished he was allowed to see his _own_ soul.

"Daddy," Sans finally called. He turned around to look at his big window. It looked into the house, and Daddy liked to check on him through it. Daddy could hear him through the charm, so he knew to come so he could help Sans.

But Sans wanted to try something new.

Glancing at the window again, he carefully slipped down the side of the chair. His feet had almost touched the ground when he was suddenly wrapped up in Daddy's grey magic.

"Sans! What are you doing, baby?" Daddy stumbled into the room, quickly scooping his up and cradling him close. "Babies aren't supposed to walk, sweetheart, you-"

"I coulda'hurt myself," Sans parroted easily. He pushed back so he could look at Daddy. "But I was being careful!"

"No, honey," the older skeleton shook his head with an amused expression. "You're four. You don't know the meaning of careful."

"Even if I fell, everything's all pad... paddled," Sans grumbled, leaning against Daddy again.

"Padded, baby. And that's only in case of emergencies! I don't want you to fall at all. Now, why did you call me, little one?"

Tiny hands opened and closed slowly.

"'M hungry," Sans lied, quietly.

"You know we only eat at certain times," Daddy shook his head. "Are you having trouble with rules today?"

"I-I..." Sans fumbled awkwardly and played with his Daddy's sleeves. Should he tell the truth or should he try something else?

Maybe he could do both...

"C-Could I wear something else? Can I s-see my soul? Cou-Could I-I crawl around a bit, just a-a little bit, please?!" Sans burst with desire, just barely keeping himself from saying his real wish. He stared hopefully up into his Daddy's eye sockets, watching as the eye-lights softened, then hardened even more.

He felt his soul sink a little.

"Some baby's not listening to Daddy today," the big skeleton shook his head and started to walk them to the door. "You know why we have rules, sweetheart. If we mess up even a little bit..." His breath hitched.

"You know I don't like doing this, Sans," the father firmed himself as he walked down the stairs. "But I think you need to go in the timeout chair."

"Daddy-" Sans panicked. He scrambled at the monster's clothing and tried to get a firm grip. "Please, no, Daddy, please, please, I'll be good, I'll listen- I don't want it, I don't want it!"

"You're not listening, Sans," Daddy shook his head once more. They were standing in front of the dreaded chair now.

"Daddy..." Sans hiccuped, burying his face in Daddy's shirt. "Daddy, no... Daddy..."

"I'll be back when you're ready to listen."

The towering skeleton carefully lowered the baby into the chair, letting the technology sync with his magic and lock into place. Sans looked up at him with teary eyes, doing his best not to cry.

"No, no, Daddy..." He pleaded. "Please, Daddy, no-" Grey magic fastened around his wrists, then around his waist, sticking him to the seat. "Daddy!"

"You have to learn, baby," the man started to walk away. "I'll be back soon."

"Daddy!" Sans sobbed. Tears finally rolled down his cheeks, but he couldn't move to wipe them away.

"I won't let you hurt yourself," Daddy disappeared upstairs.

"Daddy! _Daddy!_ " Sans begged, tugging and yanking. The chair held him carefully in place; he couldn't hurt himself on the restraints.

"Daddy!" Sans cried. He tried using magic, but he was very little, and baby skeletons couldn't use magic like big skeletons. His eyes sockets lit for a moment, then went back to his normal eye-lights. His phalanges dug into the arm of the chair, but the chair's magic quickly straightened them back out before he could really scrape them.

"DADDY!" He screamed. He rocked side to side, trying to knock the chair over. It stayed firmly affixed to the ground. "Daddy..."

He sobbed and he sobbed, and he felt like he might never stop crying. His head slowly lowered to his ribcage, and his shoulders quivered and shook violently. He weakly kicked out his legs.

He was _exhausted_...

"Didn't m-mean to be bad!" He insisted through the tears, talking to Daddy through the charm. "Dun'wanna break the rules- Jus'... jus'..." He hiccuped.

Maybe... Maybe the only way to get out of the chair... was to listen to the rules...

Sans sobbed. Once. Twice. A final, heaving, gasping, _choking_ time.

"I-I gotta wear the-these cloth's cuz' it'll keep my bones from g-getting brit... birttle? And they w-won't break as easy," he began to murmur through his tears. His soul weighed him down further in his seat. "I can't see m-my soul, cuz' it coul'break if anyone touchded it. A-an' I gotta eat regular so I can stay healthy and not snack, an' I c-can't crawl or walk or stand on m'own cuz' I could fall an' really hurt myself... a-and Daddy would be sad."

"Very good, sweetheart," Daddy whispered, kneeling in front of him. "Thank you for listening to me, baby. I'd love to let you out now- this hurts me just as much as you- but you need to think some more, okay? Daddy needs to make sure you can follow the rules."

The four year old nodded solemnly, resigned to sitting in the chair until dinner. He shifted weakly. The chair didn't let him move even an inch.

"That's my smart baby," Daddy smiled and kissed him on the forehead. "I'll be back when you've had some time to think."

"Okay," Sans whispered. His body sagged back; his head slumped forward once more. He tried uselessly to get comfortable in the chair, but he just couldn't seem to move. He swung his legs out tiredly.

He could never tell Daddy about wanting to go outside.

-{[(*)]}-

Sans was sitting in his room, tapping his pencil against the desk. He was bigger now that he was older, but his feet still seemed to hang feet above the floor. Not that he really tried to get down on his own, but he sometimes wondered if Dad was making the chair taller.

He refused to consider that he really wasn't growing that much.

The eight year old focused on the paper in front of him, doodling some equations while letting his mind wander. His magic wasn't very strong- Dad didn't want him to hurt himself, so it was restricted just about as much as everything else- but he found that recently, if he really focused, he could summon a tiny creature. It wasn't a fully formed monster, just a little blob-y thing. It was kinda transparent, like a ghost; that was probably because his magic wasn't strong enough to make anything solid.

(He'd tried forming bone attacks or levitating something, like Dad had done before, but the restrictions in the monitoring charm seemed to stop him from being able to do that. Dad didn't know about the little creature though, so he couldn't restrict Sans from making it... At least Dad didn't listen in to _everything_ he said, anymore.)

So, Sans let his mind wander to the little creature. It was really cute, but he was afraid to draw it in case Dad saw it and realized what was happening. He wanted to keep it around as much as possible, as a little companion. Besides that little creature, ...he only had Dad to talk to...

Just as he finally gathered the courage to summon the little guy, an unfamiliar noise came from downstairs. Sans startled; had Dad dropped something in the kitchen? He glanced at the clock on his desk. No, it wasn't time for lunch yet... So what-?

"Dad?" He called hesitantly, and saw his Dad stalking past his window, down the hallway to the stairs. Dad ignored him. If his Dad wasn't downstairs...

Sans puzzled over the situation for a moment. What was happening downstairs then? He turned to his desk, hitting it with his pencil to see if he could recreate the sound. Maybe if he could recreate it, he could figure out what was happening. When the pencil didn't create quite the same sound, he carefully knocked his knuckles against the wood.

His hands were extremely delicate, and just tapping his bones on the desk sent tiny, painful tingles up his entire arm. But the noise was closer to what happened downstairs, so he tried again with a bit more force.

It was almost exactly the same...

So, the noise came from someone hitting wood... Flat wood, about the size of the desk, according to the way it sounded. Hitting a giant, thick hunk of wood would definitely make a different sound than hitting something, say, the side of a door...

Sans slowly turned to look at his door.

His gaze slid to the window, realizing something amazing could be happening downstairs, right now, and he was missing it-

Sans summoned his little creature forward and quickly sent it downstairs. The ghost-like figure slipped through the door, then quickly found a pot to hide in downstairs so it could see what was going on. Sans watched through its eyes as Gaster stood in front of an open space in the wall, looking beyond the wall to the outside of the house-

They had a way to get outside?!

While Sans spluttered, thinking " _since when, since when_ ", over and over again, considering everything he knew about their house, the tiny blob listened carefully to what was happening.

"Wing Dings," a feminine voice pleaded, "I know this is sudden, but, _please_ , he's your _son_! He'll have no where to go-" A tiny skeleton head popped into the house, looking around. Sans was suddenly paying much more attention.

" _Sans_ is my son! I've never heard of _this_ little urchin, and I refuse to take it in because you can't manage your life properly-"

" _I'm dying!_ "

The tiny skeleton head looked back outside, probably at the woman that had started to sob hopelessly. Sans leaned forward on his desk, desperate to see and understand what was happening. The little blob inched forward as well, trying to fulfill his desire without getting them caught.

"What happened to you, Wing Ding?" The woman cried. "We used to be so close, but after the accident..."

"After the _accident_ ," Dad sneered, "I was finally able to see your true, hideous nature. The only regret I have in this life is marrying _you_."

The woman cried and cried, sounding like she would never stop. Sans's soul ached in sympathy.

" _Please_!" She begged, gasping weakly. "Please, I'm _sick_ , and no one else can take him. You're his _father_ -"

Sans gripped the monitoring charm, letting it transmit to Dad what he wanted to say, "Please, Dad- We can't just leave him, we can't-"

Dad startled and looked up towards his room. The woman seemed to take this as encouraging, increasing her helpless pleading. Sans quickly did the same, but Dad looked like he was hardening again-

" _Please_ , Dad, I'm so _**lonely**_ -"

"Fine!" Dad snapped, reaching outside. The tiny blob strained for just a glimpse, but the other baby skeleton was yanked inside and the door was slammed shut.

"Mama?" The baby skeleton questioned, getting upset and eye sockets filling with tears. But Dad was already storming into the stairs.

"Uh oh..." Sans gulped and dropped back down in the chair. He let his little creature fade away and tried not to panic about his apparently very angry Dad. Dad had never been _really_ mad at him before-

The eight year old quickly tried to keep writing equations and pretend like nothing happened, but it was impossible to not flinch guiltily when the door slammed open and Dad stormed into the room. He slowly turned around, giving the towering man a weak grin.

"Heh heh..." He chuckled anxiously.

"How did you hear us?" Dad demanded. "Did you get up on your own? What did you-" The adult monster picked him up and searched him over, searching for some kind of injury or device.

"The door was open?" Sans tried. Dad gave him a stern glare and the skeleton wilted. He opened his mouth to explain, but his eye was caught by the little boy standing in the doorway. Hope surged up suddenly in his chest, filling his chest cavity. "Hey! I'm Sans! What's your name?"

Dad jerked and looked over his shoulder. Sharply, he set Sans back down and turned on the babybones.

"You! Don't you dare come in this room!" Dad shoved the boy out an slammed the door behind him. Sans could faintly hear his yelling through the door. "You are never allowed in there! We're going to set some boundaries today, starting with your place in this house!" Sans twisted around trying to see out the window. He caught a glimpse of the young skeleton crying, then Dad had dragged him out of sight.

Sans sighed and settled down at his desk. He started to reach for his pencil, but his arm was yanked back down to the chair. He found himself fastened in place, just like in "time out". A frustrated huff pushed through his naval cavity, and he figured he was just going to have to wait for Dad to come back.

-[]-

Sans found that for the next few days, his world was even more limited than before. He was kept in his room while Dad got Papyrus sorted out, and he had to wait for Dad to help him if he wanted to do anything different.

He started seeing Papyrus through the window, looking miserable and tired. Sans wondered why. He was also curious about Papyrus's freedom and mobility. Papyrus was a baby too, wasn't he? Then why wasn't Dad carrying him everywhere? Sans knew for sure he wasn't an adult skeleton, but if he wasn't a baby, then what could he be?

Papyrus peered into the window sometimes. He would get this expression like he was curious, concerned, and a little irritated at the same time. Sans had no idea what that was about.

Other than his name, Sans didn't really know anything about Papyrus...

-[]-

"Alright, Sans," Dad entered, his black clothing swishing moodily. He picked the eight year old up and carried him downstairs. "I think you've learned your lesson by now. Is there anything you want to do?"

Sans fiddled and fidgeted. He looked up at Dad, then quickly moved his gaze to the living room. Something was different... There was something in the corner! It looked like some kind of rug... Or a mat. Maybe it was like a thick blanket?

"Um..." Sans turned his thoughts back to the patiently waiting Dad, who had asked him a question. "C-Can I meet Papyrus now?" He gave his dad the biggest baby eyes he possibly could, hoping that maybe, this time, Dad would listen.

Dad shook his head and sat them down on the couch.

"I guess I should have explained some things, baby. Papyrus is going to be living with us, but he doesn't know the rules yet, and he's not very good at being careful like me," Dad murmured. Sans glanced around; where _was_ Papyrus?

"So... I can't... _talk_ to him?" Sans questioned. His brow bones furrowed slightly. He played with his phalanges, cautiously not looking at Dad.

"The little idiot shouldn't even _breathe_ near you, honey," Dad muttered, sounding growly. Sans kicked his legs out and thought about... well, all sorts of things.

He was very lonely in the house with just him and Dad, but now they had Papyrus. But, he couldn't talk to Papyrus, and Papyrus couldn't come near him. So why was Papyrus still here?

"What if he stands really far away?" Sans pondered aloud. He _really_ wanted to talk to someone...

"You're adorable, baby," Dad kissed the top of his skull. "Why don't we set you up in your chair so you can read a book?"

Sans frowned up at him, but he knew better than to argue. He glanced at the chair by the bookshelf. It was taller than all the others, but it was also very fluffy and thick. It seemed strange that it was different than all the other stuff in the living room, but _all_ of the stuff for him was different than Dad's.

"I've read all the books," he hesitantly mentioned.

"Hmm," Dad stroked his chin. His eyes sparkled. "Well, then it's probably good that I picked up a new one!" He waved his hand, summoning a book from the other room.

"Wow!" Sans looked at the cover, but was careful not to touch it until Dad had offered it to him. It didn't look very complex, something about a creature called a 'dog', but Sans didn't care about the actual content. Recently, he was trying to find patterns in stories, things that happened even when they were in different books. "Thank you, Dad."

"You're welcome, sweetheart. Let's get you in your chair, alright?" Dad scooped him up and brought him over to the padded chair. The fluffy material seemed to wrap around his body when he was put in it. It was very comfortable, but moving was kinda difficult. Sans just hunkered down and cracked his new book open. He was used to not moving anyway.

-{[(*)]}-

 **A/N: Unfortunately, the Great Papyrus has arrived.**

 **QUESTION OF THE UPDATE: Hamburgers or hotdogs? I'm more of a hotdog person myself, and I only recently tried them with mustard and ketchup. Surprisingly, it's really good!**


	3. Papyrus

**A/N: It's baaack~! And we finally get to see some of the elusive Papyrus! As someone who has actually had sane contact with the outside world, I wonder what his perspective will be like? ;)**

-{[(*)]}-

Papyrus had been a bit concerned to realize he was the only normal person in the house. Well, probably. He had only really met Gaster so far. Sans seemed like he could be nice, but he was really just... just so _arrogant_! Why didn't Sans ever do "chores"? Why was he given all these luxuries?

At eleven _and a half_ , Papyrus could definitively tell you that Gaster was crazy, and he made everything else in the house crazy too. Except Papyrus. He was normal, obviously. How else would he be able to tell you the others were completely off their rockers?

At the moment, he was scrubbing the kitchen floor and contemplating his good ol' "dad" and Sans. Papyrus had been living in this house since he was five, and there were a lot of things that bugged him. Like, he was the only one who had "chores", and he'd never even had a conversation with the second member of the house. He still had no idea why Gaster was so adamant on keeping them separate, but one day, he was just going to snap.

The tween jumped with a high yelp when the bucket of dirty water knocked over and poured all over him. He knelt there for a moment, holding his arms out and staring at his drenched clothes. Maybe Gaster would let him take a shower _now_?

With a frustrated growl, he went back to the floor, quickly mopping up the water and finishing the last section he had to scrub. The floor was practically sparkling by the time he was done, but his clothing was still wet and was starting to stink. He turned to put the cleaning supplies away- Gaster was suddenly standing in the doorway.

"There are a few more things I need you to do today," Gaster held out a piece of paper. Papyrus growled and snatched it out of the man's hand so he could look it over. Gaster scowled, but Papyrus didn't see it because he was already reading. Dust the living room, do the laundry, sweep the office, wash the windows-

"I can't possibly do this all today," Papyrus snapped. He shook the list at the man. "Almost every one of these take hours to complete, and there are barely three hours until dinner."

"Well, I have to go grocery shopping, and I expect them to be done by the time I get back. I don't care how you do it," Gaster rumbled back. "Did you finish the list?"

Papyrus snatched the grocery list off the fridge and practically threw it at the man. The adult rolled his eyes and irritably swept out of the kitchen. Papyrus let his chest heave for a long moment, then practically screamed in frustration. He kicked the empty bucket, watching as it pitifully fell over.

Muttering angrily to himself, Papyrus put the cleaning supplies away and stormed into the living room to start dusting. Sans was in his special reading chair, so engrossed in a book he probably hadn't even seen Gaster leaving.

Papyrus glared at the wall for a moment, getting distracted from his task by his passionate anger. He knew that the front door was hidden in the wall, but he didn't know how to access it. If he could just figure that out...

The youngest skeleton huffed noisily and grabbed some of the dusting tools from the cabinet in the corner. He set about removing dust from the furniture, even wiping between the leaves of the fake potted plant. If he made even one mistake... He grumbled slightly at the thought.

Soon, he was aware of a set of eyes watching him.

Papyrus turned around slowly, making eye contact with the teenager. He wasn't supposed to talk to Sans, but...

"What're you looking at, princess?" Was what ended up coming out of his mouth, apparently. Papyrus flinched at his own words, but Sans looked oddly excited and eager. The fourteen year old folded his book and set it beside him. He tried to sit up, but the plush chair didn't give him much movement.

"Hey! I'm Sans!" The teenager chirped. Papyrus rolled his eyes and kept working.

"Yeah, I _know_. And I'm Papyrus."

"Did Dad say we could talk now? I've always wanted to talk to you, you're the first other skeleton I've met, and I've always been so curious- What's your favorite color? What do you like to do? Do you read?" Sans burst. Papyrus slowly stopped and looked at the older monster again.

"Uh..." Unsettled by the fact that Sans didn't sound nearly as self-centered and arrogant as he seemed to be, Papyrus let his magic take over cleaning for him. An orange glow coated the dusting supplies, and they began to dance around the room while Papyrus approached the teenage skeleton.

"Well... Um, my favorite color is red," he started, cautiously. Sans nodded, like it was the most interesting discovery of the century. "I like action figures, and I like telling stories with them... I don't have any action figures here, obviously. And... No, I don't really read." Sans nodded again, looking almost like a toddler.

Sans didn't say anything else, and Papyrus had no idea what he could even say to start a different conversation.

Instead, Papyrus stepped away, much less angry, and began to clean as he considered everything he knew about Sans and good ol' Gaster.

-[]-

The boys didn't have another chance to talk for almost a year. Even then, they didn't take the opportunity. What would they even say?

But after a whole sixteen months, Papyrus was resting on his mat while Sans was positioned in his reading chair. Gaster had been called into the lab for work he absolutely _could not_ do at home.

"Hey," Papyrus started. Sans was _this close_ to having thrown down his book in his haste to participate in the possible conversation. "Why do you always wear pajamas?"

Sans's head tilted, a bit like a puppy.

"My clothes?" He questioned. He looked down at them, tugging at the inch of give at the hem of his shirt. As soon as he released the fabric, it practically snapped back against his body. "They aren't pajamas..."

"They look like pajamas," Papyrus snorted. "Don't you have any, y'know, cotton or something?"

"What?"

"Never-mind," Papyrus shifted against the mat, shifting to get comfortable. It was nearly impossible most of the time; he really didn't know why he tried. "Why do you read so much?"

"Heh, is there anything else to do?" Sans chuckled. As though the sheer idea of doing anything besides reading was silly.

"Well, I remember watching tv as a kid," Papyrus hummed. "And..." He glanced at the door but decided not to finish the thought aloud. _Playing outside_.

"What's a tv?"

"Oh my God," Papyrus sat up irritably. "Gaster doesn't let you do anything, does he?"

"Gaster?"

" _Your dad?_ "

Sans mumbled thoughtfully, "So that's his name..." Papyrus stared at him, jaw dropped.

"That's it! When I get out, I'm taking you with me," the twelve year old stomped over to the wall and began to feel it. Maybe he could get them out while Gaster was gone.

"Go... G-Go _outside_?" Sans jerked back. Papyrus glanced at him. The older skeleton was basically shaking himself apart at the mere idea.

"Yeah?" Papyrus growled. "Something's seriously wrong with Gaster, okay? The things he does? All of _this_?" He gestured sharply to the house. " _None_ of _this_ is normal!"

"I-I..." Sans floundered. "Y-You don't understand-"

"What don't I understand, Sans? He's got you locked up in the house, probably since you were born. Half the time your stuck in your room, and a good chunk of the rest of it you're trapped in that stupid chair. You've never taken a step on your own, for God's sake!" Papyrus yelled, arms flailing in all directions. "Normal kids run around and climb trees-"

"Trees?"

"-or do pretty much anything other than read books all day! Have you ever even _touched_ the ground?"

"D-Dad always stops me-" Sans gasped, choking on his own breath.

"That is _not_ normal!" Papyrus cried. He turned back to the door. "You really are a princess," he mumbled.

"B-But-"

"What, Sans? What could possibly make any of this okay?" Papyrus fumed. He didn't bother looking at the older skeleton.

"A-all of the rules h-have a... a purpose! I-If I get hurt, even a-a little bit-!" Sans's breath caught on the words and he fell silent. Papyrus turned to look at him, wondering what could possibly be bad enough that Sans could tolerate Gaster's tyranny and constant control over every aspect of his life.

Quietly, he prompted, "What, Sans?"

" _I have 1 HP!_ " Sans buried his face in his head in his hands and sobbing as though it were his great secret shame.

Papyrus stared for a moment, and slowly the rigid lines of his body began to soften. He moved away from the wall and back to Sans's side. Slowly, he reached out, and just, silently, put his hand on Sans's arm. The teen jumped violently and flinched away.

But he wasn't hurt.

He looked up, hesitantly, like it was some kind of trick and he was waiting for Papyrus to deal the fatal blow.

"Okay," Papyrus smiled awkwardly. "I can understand why it's so scary, and why you want to take it slow. But really, it's not as dangerous as you think. Hasn't anyone explained HP to you before?"

"N-No..." Sans hiccuped. "But- But if anything hurts me-"

"-in a fight," Papyrus finished for him. "If anything hurts you in a fight. Look!" The skeleton ran and purposefully threw himself down on the ground. He winced and carefully pushed himself up again. He held his arms out wide to show the complete lack of injury. "I didn't loose any HP!"

"But..." The teen's brow bones furrowed. "Why didn't..."

"Monsters are made of energy and magic," Papyrus started. He remembered a long time ago, when he was still living with Mom. Laying on his bed, she had explained the differences between humans and monsters to him, "We have very little physical matter. Like our food! If our food had lots of physical stuff, then it'd fall right out of us! But it doesn't. And that's why we can only _really_ be hurt by magic attacks, _during_ a fight. Monster magic is a lot about intent. We can do magic so easily-" He levitated the potted plant, "-that it really comes down to what we _want_ to do! Like, if I want this to hit the wall, but not damage it in any way..."

The potted plant bounced harmlessly off the wall, then drifted back to the table it usually rested on.

"So..." Tears gathered in Sans's eyes. "So, we don't have to live like this?"

"No..." Papyrus frowned. He paused before he went on, "Gaster's a little messed up. There's something wrong in his head, and when it comes to you, he doesn't... he doesn't think like a normal person. Well, when it comes to anyone really, but especially you."

The house was silent.

"I-If you can get out," Sans whispered. The tiny voice was barely audible, and Papyrus crossed the room again so he could hear the next part. "I... I will go with you."

-[]-

Gaster had to know something was up at this point. Papyrus knew how to keep a secret, but Sans apparently had never had one to keep. He was suspiciously quiet, kept his eyes either away from or on Papyrus for odd amounts of time, and he just seemed restless in general.

But, Gaster was letting Papyrus go outside, anyway? Of course, he didn't show the thirteen year old how to get out, but he did give him a list of supplies to gather and sent him on his way.

Papyrus could have left and never come back.

Instead, he picked up what he'd been asked to, with a few... _extras_. He hid the special items in his rib cage, and Gaster let him back in the house without any trouble. In the house, Gaster took the items from the list and disappeared out behind the house. Sans and Papyrus were alone once again.

Papyrus waited an hour before he made any kind of move. With all the monitoring magic and such, he didn't want to get Sans in trouble by getting them caught. He didn't want to get in trouble, either, of course, but he knew he could take a few more hits. Sans could not.

But after that first hour, Papyrus threw the potted plant and waited to see if Gaster would come running in.

...

Nope!

Immediately, Papyrus went to Sans and offered one of the things he had picked up. Being kept so close to his soul actually kept the item warm, and it was still steaming like when he had bought it in Hotland.

"What is this?" Sans questioned. He tilted it side to side, obviously unfamiliar with it.

"It's food-" Confused and curious, Sans glanced at him sharply. "-because apparently you've never had anything other than salads and veggie soup. Just try it. I want to see if you like it!"

The older skeleton carefully took a bite. His face scrunched up at the quick, unfamiliar taste. There was a sharp hit of something kind of like a veggie and some sort of paste seasoning, then he hit the squishy, meaty center and finally the soft, fluffy bun. His face smoothened out as he rolled the bite around in his mouth, considering the taste. His eyes sparkled.

"This is amazing! I love it!" He decided excitedly. Bouncing up and down on the chair and kicking his legs out happily. Papyrus caught on to his excitement and started springing back and forth on his toes. "What's this red stuff?"

"That, my friend, is ketchup!" The younger skeleton grinned. "And the entire thing is called a hotdog. Well, we don't have any _real_ meat in the Underground, so you actually ate a water sausage, but whatever!"

"Is there more food like this?" Sans asked, leaning forward. He took another bite and practically melted into his seat. He looked up at Papyrus, with little kits of ketchup and mustard smeared on his cheeks.

Papyrus laughed so hard, he collapsed to the floor in a pile of bones.

-[]-

Papyrus should probably be concerned that Gaster was leaving them alone so often, but he was too happy that he could show Sans some of the great things he'd been missing his whole life.

"This is a sweatshirt," he had explained. "And this is a t-shirt, and these are some basketball shorts. Do you need help putting them on?"

"No, but..." Sans chewed on his lower jaw for a second. Since realizing he could get hurt a little without dying, Sans had lost nearly all of his stiffness. He lounged around the house, lazily sinking into whatever Gaster had put him on at the moment. He tried stretching every once in a while, clearly wanting to walk for the first time, but they needed to take some more baby steps before they reached that point. Sans had been so sheltered, almost everything new seemed intimidating. "Won't they make my bones brittle?"

"I still have no idea how you can be so smart and Gaster can have filled your head with all these silly ideas. I wear these kinds of fabrics all the time, and I'm fine, right? Wearing what you do all the time just makes your bones soft. It makes it harder for you to do anything with them!" Papyrus held out the clothes again. "Look, I even got slippers." Sans took the clothes and shamelessly began changing.

Papyrus hurriedly turned around to give him some privacy. He still wondered about things sometimes, and Gaster's involvement in Sans's clothing was inching its way up the list. Why in the Underground was Sans so comfortable changing when someone else was watching?

"Done," Sans's voice squeaked. Papyrus turned back around. A simple white t-shirt hung around his frame, hiding ribs which always seemed to be showing through thin fabric. Baggy black shorts hung down to his ankles, pooling around his legs, while the thick, blue sweatshirt covered his arms and back perfectly. Little pink slippers dangled from his feet.

Papyrus walked around him slowly, observing the get-up from all angles. Something about it seemed so... right. In his mind, Papyrus knew that Sans was always meant to be this way.

A kind of heaviness settled over his soul, even as he cheerfully declared, "You look great! Just like a normal person. Maybe..." Papyrus went to his own clothing and retrieved a pair of socks. He gently removed Sans's slippers and slid the socks over his bones. They hung limply around his ankles. Perfect.

Papyrus paused as he realized what he was doing. He glanced up to see Sans had practically fallen into a trance, hypnotized by the younger skeleton's actions. Even as Sans stared at him intently, Papyrus finished the job and put the slippers back on over the socks. He sat back on his heels.

"I... I have chores to do," he mumbled uncertainly. "When Gaster comes back, you gotta change into your usual clothes. I'll hide these for you."

"Thank you," Sans murmured. He rubbed the sleeve of his new sweatshirt between two phalanges, enjoying the different feeling from the different fabric.

Papyrus quickly left the room.

-{[(*)]}-

 **A/N: For once, a chapter that's not totally loaded with angst. Hurray!**

 **QUESTION OF THE UPDATE: What's your favorite fabric to wear? I really like well-worn cotton, or cotton blends. My mom's favorite fabric is always line dry only, and I get kinda made when she buys an entire closet of the stuff! XD**


	4. Escape

**A/N: Honestly, this is one of the chapters I'm most proud of. This is also where a lot of the actions happens, so be prepared!**

-{[(*)]}-

He wasn't sure what to think when he was awakened in the middle of the night by Gaster's string of movements in and outside. Papyrus could have just rolled over, covered his head with his blanket-pillow and gone back to sleep, but instead, he carefully turned to the door. He feigned sleep, keeping his eye just open enough to make out what Gaster was doing each time he opened the door to go outside.

Papyrus was starting to think Gaster might not be nearly as smart as he seemed.

There wasn't any secret passcode to open the door or anything. Well... Kinda? There were certain places you had to be standing or pressing on for a few seconds before the door would open. But there wasn't a special code he had to memorize; next time Gaster was gone, he could grab Sans and escape-

Except...

Sans still couldn't stand up on his own, could he?

Papyrus rolled over, twisting his thoughts around in his head and looking at them from every angle. It couldn't hurt to have Sans practice once or twice before they left. Besides, Gaster might be wary and suspect something would happen since he was so careless tonight.

Mind set, Papyrus tried to get some sleep.

He had a lot of chores to do tomorrow.

-[]-

Gaster was gone.

He had some kind of meeting with the king, but that wasn't the point! Papyrus could start getting Sans to practice walking, and soon they would be able to escape, and-

Papyrus hoped he could stay patient enough for them to actually escape.

But for now!

Papyrus jogged up the stairs to Sans's room. He could actually burst with glee as he opened the door, and... Papyrus slowed down and approached the chair at Sans's desk. Its back was turned to him, which felt more ominous than it probably should.

"Sans?" He called softly. Sans gasped loudly and the seat jerked. Papyrus grabbed the chair and started to turn it around just as Sans began babbling.

"Papyrus, you're smart, right? So you'll know, right? Please, you gotta tell me- please, please, Papyrus, please tell me, please you _know_ , you know what I did- What did I do wrong? What did I do? Papyrus, you gotta tell me-" Sans had been secured to the chair. He was still straining against the restraints, even as they smoothed his limbs back out and stopped him from moving too much.

"Sans- Sans, calm down," Papyrus breathed out, but Sans refused.

"Papyrus, please, just tell me, I gotta know, I gotta know so I don't do it again- What did I do? What did I- What rule did I break? Why did he- Why did Dad- Why would he- _I don't understand!_ " The teen screeched and writhed. "What did I _do_? Why am I- Why did he-"

"Sans!" Papyrus cried, reaching forward. He gently grabbed each side of the older skeleton's face and forced him to still. "Sans, take a deep breath." In, out. "That's right; good job. Now another." In, out. "You're doing great, Sans. Almost as great as me. Just one more, okay?" In... Out... "Perfect!"

Sans continued to breathe, the sudden drop in adrenaline leaving him drooping and weak. His limbs trembled faintly, and tears broke free to stream down his cheeks.

"Okay, you did amazing, Sans. Now, just talk to me, 'kay? What happened?" Papyrus questioned calmly. He gripped his soul, projecting the calmness he felt to help Sans.

"I-I was just reading-" Sans whispered and his breath hitched. Papyrus wiped his eye sockets dry and patted his shoulder. "And D-Dad came in, and turned on the restraints, a-and I don't know _why_. Pap, I was just reading, I _swear_ -"

"I know, Sans," the younger skeleton said, sadly. "I know." He took a deep breath himself, but for a very different reason. " _You_ didn't do anything wrong."

"Then why-?" Sans begged.

"Gaster's getting worse," Pap started to work on the gray tethers, slowly breaking the magic apart with his own orange power. "He's making less and less sense, being lax when he shouldn't and grasping at control that he already has. We have to get out of here before he snaps beyond any semblance of sanity."

"So... I didn't break any rules?" Sans whimpered. Papyrus glanced at him and silently shook his head. The sixteen year old melted and slowly stopped shaking.

"Hey!" Papyrus grinned. "Look! I totally just got you free!" He lifted Sans's wrist from the chair. "That's, like... super great."

"Thank you," Sans smiled. He shook out his wrists, then looked up at Papyrus curiously. "Are we leaving now?"

"No, I think we should getting you standing on your own, first. Then, I can leave you by a wall or something if anything happens, and you can get away on your own," Pap explained. He held his hands out for Sans to grab, then carefully levered him up to his feet.

Sans was... much shorter than him.

Papyrus stared down at him for a moment, the broke into giggles. Sans wobbled and fell back in his seat, glaring at the taller skeleton. Papyrus laughed even louder at that.

He took a moment to calm down.

Slowly, he helped Sans to his feet again. Sans's knees shook, but he gripped Papyrus's forearms tightly and pulled himself back up.

"Okay, good job!" Papyrus grinned. "Now step onto my feet." Sans shuffled forward a bit, legs trembling and quivering like leaves in a hurricane. He barely managed to get his feet high enough from the ground to get on Papyrus's toes. "And I want you to just relax and let your legs stretch, alright?"

Papyrus began to walk backwards, lifting Sans's feet for him and guiding his legs in the right motions for walking. Sans swayed and shook, but he held fast. Papyrus kept a close ear out for Gaster, but didn't hear anything. Instead, they practiced walking and stretching for the next hour, and Sans made _amazing_ progress.

Soon, Sans was able to stand against the wall on his own. Of course, when he tried to walk to Papyrus from there, he collapsed. Luckily! Papyrus swept forward and caught him before he could hit the ground.

Gaster seemed to return home then, and that's when Papyrus realized it might have been a problem to release Sans-

Quickly, the younger skeleton helped Sans back to the chair and tried to replicate the gray magic that had held him in place, but his own magic was orange and there was no part of his soul that wanted Sans to be restrained, and Gaster was already coming up the stairs and-

" _What_. Are. _You_. Doing. In. _Here?_ " The deep rumble stabbed through Papyrus's panic. Sans immediately started crying in fright, knowing something was going to happen to Papyrus but not being able to comprehend what it was-

Gaster swept into the room, black robes swirling violently around his ankles. He scooped Sans up, noticing the lack of restraints. He began to hum and bounce the teenager, as though that would calm him.

"Shhh, baby. Everything's okay. I'm going to take care of this _pesky moron_ , and then you and I can go back to our perfect lives! You'll be my _special_ baby again, and you won't ever have to worry about _naughty_ idiots," Gaster murmured soothingly. Sans sobbed, but the insane father just put him down on the bed, wrapped him in the blanket, and snapped the entire bundle shut with the sharp _click_ of his gray magic.

Papyrus considered bolting.

 _But Gaster was already upon him_.

Gaster snatched him up by the arm and dragged him out into the hallway. Papyrus crashed into the doorframe, then dizzily tripped over his feet, and they went down the stairs. He almost crashed at the bottom, but Gaster yanked him back up by the imprisoned arm.

"What was the _one_ thing I told you to do-" Gaster hissed, not even looking at him. The front door was pitched open, and it swung on its hinges as Gaster marched them outside.

"You told me to do a _lot_ of things," Papyrus snapped, eyes flaring orange.

"Sans is far more _precious_ and amazing than any other monster out there, and I won't let _filth_ like you taint that-" They were getting closer and closer to the city, even as Papyrus dug in his heels and struggled as much as he could. He could use magic, but he feared an actual fight with Gaster may prove too much for him, and then where would Sans be? But instead of going into the city, they made a sharp turn and Gaster forced him through the entrance of a tiny cave.

"Where are we?" Papyrus demanded. He stood his ground, refusing to back up even as Gaster stalked towards him.

"I can't let you near Sans anymore, I'm afraid," Gaster didn't answer the question. "So I'm going to have to get rid of you. What. A. _Shame!_ " Gaster threw out his arm, snatching at Papyrus's soul and throwing him into the wall. A small wave of attacks followed, but Papyrus blocked them with some of his own. The teen jumped over another group of attacks and ducked under some kind of energy beam. He ran towards the mad scientist and tried to fire an attack of his own, but he was once again thrown to the side.

Gaster lashed out with a bone attack, but Papyrus sprinted forward instead of dodging like expected.

He leapt over the attack, then dropped into a slide, going right between Gaster's legs. His side burned from the maneuver, but he pushed himself up and sprinted out of the cave. He threw up an orange wall of bones behind him, trapping the man inside.

Papyrus ran and ran, blinking and seeming to miss chunks of the path as he ran. He barreled back into the house and leapt for the railing. In a burst of strength, he was over the side and barging into Sans's room.

The other skeleton was incoherent, weeping uncontrollably. Papyrus ripped the blanket from his body like wet tissue paper, then pulled Sans onto his back. He flew over the railing once more and sped from the house.

His feet seemed to fly above the rocky terrain, barely hitting the soil before he pushed off again quicker than lightning. He leaped over fallen debris. He pushed through a small patch of weeds. He kept going and going and going, sprinting faster than any monster in history.

He looked up and found himself in New Home, standing in the middle of an intersection. He spun around wildly, breathing heavy. His ribs ached, his side ached, his head ached, his legs ached-

"Are you okay?" A female voice called.

Papyrus glanced at the approaching shadow and took off running once more. His feet pounded against the streets, and he launched himself around a street sign. Lampposts flickered by, one, two, three, four-

He stared at the shiny metal in the distance, recognizing some kind of door. He pushed into it and watched the doors closed. His body shifted downwards with the sudden force of gravity, and soon the doors had opened on a new place.

A bit worn out, Papyrus jogged forward and glanced at the two paths available before moving to the side. A beautiful view of the city stretched out before him; Sans hiccuped against his neck. Papyrus tried to glance back at the smaller skeleton. He turned down a new hallway.

At the end of the hall, they walked through a dim home, covered in dust and golden flowers. Papyrus took a moment to stop. It seemed impossible for Gaster to find them in such a place.

"Hey..." He panted. "Sans- Hey, w-we're okay..."

"Pap," Sans pleaded mournfully. "Pap!"

"I'm here," Papyrus assured, his bones weighing a thousand tons. He started up again and jogged down the stairs, twisting through a few more paths. He reached a new door and went through it. The new hall seemed to be made of gold and shimmering light. Sans looked up in awe. "I'm here..."

Papyrus slowed down slightly. They walked through the shining hall, feeling warmth settle into their bodies. Sans sank back into Papyrus with a happy murmur, and Papyrus puffed his chest out. He felt like a super hero.

Bells rang overhead, sending tremors down through the columns and stained glass windows.

"Wait..." Sans muttered, into his spine. "We're... out? When did we-"

"Gaster..." Papyrus scraped his teeth. "Gaster snapped. For real." The warm light calmed him once more. His soul stopped pounding quite so hard.

"Oh."

They exited the hall, feeling the light fade out of their bodies. Around the corner, there were a tall set of double doors.

Papyrus stood in front of the doors and stared up at them wearily. He wondered where they were, since everything seemed so regal and important here... Sans snuffled tiredly, still trembling slightly from the second emotional high of the day.

Slowly, Papyrus raised his hand.

 _Knock knock_

-[]-

 **A/N: I remember at the time of writing that I thought this was the best fanfic I had ever written. Proof-reading it now, it all just seems like garbage. T - T**

 **QUESTION OF THE UPDATE: Do any of you enjoy sprinting or running? Though I'm not in cross-country or anything, every once in a while I like to jump sprint as hard as I can for a short distance; it feels really good!**


	5. The King

**A/N: I personally love this chapter, but I'm coming to dislike the story as I read over it and reevaluate my mistakes. ):**

-[]-

As both King and Monster, Asgore Dreemurr had seen many things, in all those days he had lived. When he was young, he grew up in the palace on the Surface, learning how to be a ruler and how to maintain the peace between Humans and Monsters. When he was a teenager, he watched war break out between the two races, watched his father- the King- die, and watched as hundreds of monsters were slaughtered. As the new King, Asgore saved the remaining Monsters by retreating into the Underground. He married Toriel, the beautiful woman he'd been engaged to for over a year. He was there for the birth of his first child, Asriel.

He was there when Asriel brought home their second child.

The small human was welcomed into their home and kingdom, seen as a beacon of hope by the citizens. The little child had grown with Asriel, learning the ways of Monsters and rulers. And then they found those d***** buttercups.

In an incident Asgore refused to think on for a moment longer, both of his children were wiped from the face of the earth. The Underground had lost its light, and its hope.

As King, he had to do something! Monsters were dependent on soul magic, which were dependent on positive energy! If he didn't find a solution, Monsters... Monsters would cease to exist.

With the plan to collect that souls that came to the Underground, some small spark of hope was restored, but Toriel disagreed so greatly that she disappeared in the night, barely offering him a goodbye. He couldn't find her anywhere in the Underground; she became like a ghost.

Asgore suffered in silence, wondering if what he was doing was the right thing. But if he started changing the plan, showing weakness and anxiety, that small spark of hope would shrivel and die. Monsters would live in uncertainty, afraid for their very existence. And the plan that brought him to Toriel's loss would be for nothing.

He turned to his best friend, the Royal Scientist, W. D. Gaster, who always had a sympathetic ear to lend. The man had been there for him for years, and they were almost as close as they were with their wives (but for that one key activity that separated them). Gaster searched for years for some kind of solution to Asgore's problem, directing research into human souls and seeing if they could produce artificial ones, while also juggling his own work as the lead scientist in the kingdom. _The first two souls had already been collected_.

Then, Asgore almost lost him to the Core.

Gaster became irritable and rude, an almost perfect contrast to the considerate, polite man he had been before the accident. Asgore thought it was simply because he was having trouble recovering.

He was wrong.

Rumors drifted to him from the Snowdin guards, describing the terribly loud fights that were being reported from Gaster's house, disrupting the peace of the small city. But his wife was pregnant, and Asgore thought his good friend might settle down with the birth of the child. Things just seemed to get worse.

How could a mother be jealous of her own child?

In a fit of upset, Gaster's wife moved in with her friends. Asgore didn't know what had happened, but Gaster moved away as well, almost vanishing. Asgore found him, but his old friend no longer invited him inside for tea or even seemed to want him there.

They started meeting at the lab, but Asgore knew something in Gaster had changed. The man's personality was completely different, and no one had seen the man's child. _Three souls_.

But the child was a baby, and surely Gaster just hired a babysitter when he went to work.

Years passed, and Asgore still didn't hear of the child. Gaster's wife had given birth to another skeleton child, and she wanted to raise the boy on her own.

At least, until she got sick.

She took the child out one night, and when one of the neighbors went to check on her the next morning, dust was spread across her bed.

Now, both skeleton children were gone, unable to be found. Asgore tried to see them, but Gaster refused and started to grow very upset in a way the King had never seen before. Asgore backed off, but he planned to find the truth of the skeleton children.

But more humans started to fall into the Underground, _four, five, six_ , and Asgore only found himself, torn apart by grief of his terrible legacy.

Finally, far too many years later, Asgore tried to see the children again. Gaster became violent, lashing out at him and crisply destroying any remaining shreds of friendship they had. The scientists at the Lab reported Gaster's paranoid and strange behavior, finally done putting up with his odd habits and requests. Their real work was always being delayed or put aside for inane side projects. The Underground wasn't making any real advancements.

Asgore stood his garden, watering his flowers and wondering what all of this could mean. Something was wrong with Gaster, to be certain, but what had become of his children? What had caused their terrible shift in behavior? The Core... The accident... Had they caused all of this hurt and suffering?

What was Asgore to do?

 _Knock knock_

-[]-

Papyrus hadn't even lowered his fist when he heard a deep voice call through the door, "Who's there?" Before the young skeleton could respond, Sans perked up.

"Dishes!"

A long pause ensued. The door opened, revealing a tall, fluffy monster in fancy robes and armor. The man stared down at them, barely seeming to realize as he replied, "Dishes who?"

Sans beamed up at him.

"Dishes a very bad joke!"

More silence.

The fuzzy monster near collapsed with all consuming laughter at the same time Papyrus whirled towards the other skeleton and cried, "SANS! OH MY GOD!" The goat was still laughing uncontrollably, sinking slowly to the floor even as he tried to support himself on the doorframe.

"Papyrus..." Sans said, with warmly smiling words. "...I made a pun..."

"Yes," Papyrus heaved a sigh, at least relieved that his companion was recovering from the intense situation and coming out of his shell. "You did. It was awful, and I'm embarrassed, but good job." Sans snorted.

"Please," the big monster finally managed, "Please come in, children." Papyrus carried Sans into the room, then realized his strength was starting to flag. He looked for some kind of furniture to put Sans on. His eye light caught on the shining chair in the center of the garden. His eye sockets widened.

"You're the King!" He exclaimed. Asgore nodded wearily and scratched the back of his head.

"I am," he added aloud. "Please, make yourselves comfortable." Papyrus glanced at the throne again. With somewhat of a dark look, the King commented, "Go ahead. It is only a chair."

Papyrus carefully lowered Sans into the seat, then sank to the ground. He stretched a bit, hoping to reduce the pain in his bones that was sure to follow this hollow ache. His spine popped loudly and he sighed in relief.

"Tell me, children," Asgore frowned slightly. "Why have you come to me?"

Sans stiffened, and Papyrus glared at the ground, refusing to speak.

Silently, Asgore checked them both with his soft, red magic, finding no injuries on the smaller one but a few scratches and burns on the younger. His frown deepened.

"May I at least have the pleasure of your names?" He tried again. While he didn't believe there could be any other skeleton children running around the Underground, he wanted to be sure.

"I'm Papyrus, and this is Sans," the taller boy answered, twisting his torso around to stretch some more. Asgore nodded, suspicions confirmed.

"You may stay here, children. I will just continue tending my flowers." Though he didn't want to admit it, he was quite happy to have young ones in his garden again. They weren't playing, or laughing, but they were children all the same.

Asgore started to water the golden flowers again, sprinkling the water evenly between them. Droplets of moisture sparkled in the large beams of sunlight. Grass swayed around his ankles, brushing through his fur. The hem of his cape grew heavy with water, as it always did.

Sans and Papyrus were murmuring in the background, an unusual but pleasant addition. His ears twisted and ruffled in the gentle, tickling breeze. While he didn't listen to their conversation, he kept his ears perked for noises beyond the door.

Something was coming.

Sans gasped loudly, scrambling at his sternum. Papyrus grabbed his flailing hands and tried to calm him, but the small skeleton stuttered and heaved, hoping to explain his terror.

Finally he choked out, " _T-The monitoring charm!_ "

Papyrus tried to remove the necklace, but it was too late. The double doors tore open, slamming against the walls and cracking like thunder! Gaster stood in the doorway, gray magic swirling and rising about him like violent smoke.

" ** _Stop it!_** " He screeched, exploding into the room. He grab Papyrus's soul and threw him once again, this time knocking his HP down by 5 points. Papyrus, already injured and weakened, lay on the ground in a shaking heap. Sans cried out in panic and reached for his best friend, but he still couldn't stand well enough on his own to travel to him.

Asgore was there suddenly, standing between the crazed man and the children. His red trident glowed fiercely in the dim lighting, which seemed to get impossibly dimmer as the sunlight fled from the room. Asgore's face was darkened, but his crown gleamed in the bloody light.

" _You will not touch them again_ ," he declared, royal voice teeming with power. He drew himself up to full height; his impressive body towered over the darkened monster.

" _They're mine!_ " Gaster hissed, and threw his attacks without falter. Traveling bones attacks swooped towards Asgore from both sides, but the King side-stepped them. An energy blast blew by him, making his cape flutter as he dodged swiftly.

" _You've failed them as a father!_ " The King intoned. He swung his trident and spun around another attack. Fireballs and bones flew across the room.

As the battle raged and grey and red flared in equal measure, Papyrus crept towards the throne. Sans's eyes were starting to brighten, glowing with restrained power. _He had to remove the necklace_.

" _You have no right!_ " Gaster howled, blasting and destroying with everything he had. Bones attacks struck out at random, switching between tall and short faster than channels on tv. Energy blasts came from every side, even as he leapt from fireballs and the King's mighty trident.

" _Can you not see the_ ** _wrong_** _you have done by them? The_ ** _suffering_** _you have caused?_ " The herculean King refused to back down. Any trace of his once-friend was gone; all that was left was this _beastly_ soul. He _would_ save these children, and he would _not_ let this _twisted creature_ decide their fate.

Gaster's jaw unhinged and released such a sound as had never been made by a monster before, echoing through the throne room. The terrible, imprisoned feelings of his greyed soul began to tear at his body. His face began to droop, turning into a horrifying melted mess right before Asgore's eyes. The rest of the dark creature began to dissolve as well, until only the dripping, shadowed form of his person remained.

" _M i n e!_ " It gargled. It lashed out. The attacks were impossible to comprehend, filled with such dark power and such deconstructed madness that they almost seemed unreal. Asgore missed many of them, staggering as his health took a steep drop. He dodged again and again, failing as the attacks dropped in and out of reality.

Once he passed out, the formless mutation set its sights on Papyrus.

It threw out some kind of limb, releasing an attack sharper and more deadly than any of the previous. Hatred radiated from the assault, turning it a black deeper than the darkest places of the Underground. It was a one-hit kill.

Sans glanced up just to see the attack whistling towards his brother.

Time slowed.

" _N o!_ " Sans's unheard cry echoed through the room. His arm struck forward of its own accord, and from the depths of his being came a small, blob like creature.

In less than a second, it had elongated and sharpened, hardened and narrowed. It's ripping jaw gaped open and sent out a long, overwhelming blast.

Silence reigned only after the echoing shriek had faded into the wall of the throne-room.

But for the King and the boys, the hall was now empty.

-{[-(*)-]}-

 **A/N: Short, but very, very sweet.**

 **I apologize for not having anything else to post after this, yet, but I've been working on some personal projects. I'm not sure what to write about, so if you have any ideas, send me a message or leave a review! I'm always happy to hear from you guys. And your suggestions don't just have to be for Undertale! :)**

 **QUESTION OF THE UPDATE: If you could have one kind of magic, what would you have? I would choose flying, because it could make a lot of things easier, and I love the adrenaline rush of roller coasters, which I think flying would feel similar to.**


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